Page 43 - bne IntelliNews Georgia country report October 2017

9.1.7 Renewable energy sector news
The Georgian government is seeking to list shares in the country's first wind farm on the local stock exchange, Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili said during a parliamentary session on June 22.
Ownership schemes for renewable energy projects have been found to influence their level of acceptability to the public. Georgia has recently begun to tap into its wind power potential by developing the 20 megawatt (MW) Kartli wind farm, which opened in October 2016. The country is a net energy importer and depends on its neighbour Azerbaijan for gas and oil.
Increasing imports of fossil fuels from other countries, such as Russia, has resulted in a public backlash, because Russia is an unpopular trade partner in Georgia.
The organisation that developed the farm, Georgian Energy Development Fund, is now looking for an investor to build a 150 MW plant in western Georgia.
According to Kvirikashvili, the decision to list shares in the wind farm will support the development of the stock exchange and would give Georgians "a sense of involvement in those important projects that we have been implementing".
43 GEORGIA Country Report October 2017 www.intellinews.com